VOYAGE TO SPITSBERGEN. 51 



very rank around us. The ship struck occasion- 

 ally on masses of considerable size, to the no little 

 surprise of those sailors who were making their 

 first voyage hither. We had this day a piece of 

 fresh beef cooked for dinner, which we brought 

 from England ; it tasted as well, and was as full 

 of juice as if newly killed : as did all the fowls 

 which we got at Shetland : These were hung by 

 the legs to a rope upon the quarter-deck ; but 

 neither plucked nor gutted. Our eggs likewise 

 preserved their good taste. This proves the an- 

 tiseptic power of intense cold. 



4th, Intense frost. Ice-bound, with several sail 

 in company. 



5th, Strong gales. Unhung the rudder. 

 6th, The ship towed through very rank ice, 

 by four boats manned by half the crew. Ten sail 

 in company. 



7th, Made fast to an iceberg about seventy 

 yards long and forty broad, and about twenty 

 feet above the surface of the water. It was very 

 much furrowed, and, from its great depth, drifted 

 but little, while the lesser fragments of ice were 

 driven past it at the rate of about two knots an 

 hour. 



I had this day a complete proof of the fallacy 

 of the opinion, which maintained that salt water 



d2 



